(photo Jacqueline Ramseyer/Bay Area News Group/ March 12, 2014)
Alba Virgen asks a question during the wellness/mental health portion of a parent education program developed by Vision Literacy and held in the library at Ellis Elementary School in Sunnyvale. One day a week, for nine weeks, these parents will participate in this weekly program that helps them work on their English skills, wellness and mental health skills, and child development skills for themselves and their families.

In Silicon Valley, a lack of proficiency in reading prevents about 400,000 adults from fully participating in everyday life as citizens, workers and parents.

One local nonprofit is working to turn that around by working with adults, one skill at a time.

Vision Literacy was founded more than 25 years ago to work with donors, volunteers and organizations to raise awareness and funds for services to adults with low literacy skills.

It is the only accredited literacy organization in Silicon Valley to meet all 16 quality standards of ProLiteracy America, a nonprofit international literacy organization, and helps dozens of people every year.

"Most of our social issues stem from the lack of basic skills to be self-sufficient with skills to be employed above the poverty level," Vision Literacy executive director Pat Lawson-North said.

Lawson-North said adult literacy is often overlooked as a national issue. In the U.S. 30 million people over age 16--14 percent of the country's adult population--don't read well enough to understand a newspaper story written at the eighth-grade level or fill out a job application, according to ProLiteracy. In California, 24 percent of adults perform at the lowest levels of literacy.

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"Everybody thinks education for children is more important, but if children go home to a family environment where there's no reading and no real time for learning, then values are caught, not taught, and they just do as the parents do," Lawson-North said. "The jobs that are in this country, and especially in this region, you need to have higher-level skills. It compromises people's health when people can't read prescriptions or help their children in school."

The Milpitas-based organization trains volunteers from all over Santa Clara County to work as one-on-one tutors with students or in a group setting, focusing on learner needs.

"I just always believe that you learn more when you're in groups because that's more my style," Lawson-North said of the program, which has evolved over the years to be more group-based. "This is just a great model, I think, for people to learn more conversations, more culture, and to see other people at different levels."

Tutors begin working with participants by first looking at what skills people should have in the workplace. They should understand oral communication and read simple directions, and as they progress, they should be able to make better deductions, have a larger vocabulary and be more independent workers.

"It's a stepladder process, and we retest people after they have 160 hours of instruction," Lawson-North said.

For every 70 hours of instruction, tutors have found that participants will increase their reading levels by two grade levels on average, or as many as seven grade levels in just a few months.

Tutors work with students not only on basic literacy skills but also skills in computer literacy, family literacy, leadership development and health literacy.

"The other things we've done as an organization that I think gives us an edge from other adult programs that are not school-based or connected with an adult school or community college is we use a normed assessment tool," Lawson-North said. "Students learn how to use a Scantron form and be in a timed environment and that type of thing so that they're ready to move on to adult school or community college where the environment isn't as casual and friendly."

Partnerships also serve as a crucial component of the program, allowing Vision Literacy to expand its reach and serve a larger community. Some partners include the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, Choices for Children, Google and the city of Sunnyvale.

In collaboration with the city of Sunnyvale Department of Library and Community Services, Vision Literacy offers free ESL lessons in Sunnyvale. All levels of learners are welcome to practice their listening, speaking, reading and writing during monthlong sessions.

"The city's partnership with Vision Literacy is a great example of how we successfully meet the needs of our community with diverse programs," said Angela Chan, youth and family resources manager at the Columbia Neighborhood Center, where the classes are held. "Not only are their very popular literacy sessions helping people build essential language skills in a comfortable setting, they also provide great volunteer opportunities. It's a true win-win."

Groups meet once a week for two hours in the evening and work on anything ranging from vocabulary and sentence structure to discussing national politics and current events.

Volunteer Brian Bonazzoli of Sunnyvale had been an ESL tutor in Texas about 10 years ago and was looking for that opportunity again in Sunnyvale when he found Vision Literacy online.

"I think part of what I learned is happiness is a function of gratitude, and when you're grateful for things, then you start thinking about others that aren't as lucky or fortunate as you are, and so I'm trying to give back to the community to people that may be disadvantaged," Bonazzoli said. "My regular class is more mid-level, so it's more on sentence structure and grammar and that type of thing, and even basic vocabulary. You have to flex, because depending on who shows up, you need to adjust your course based on the people who are there."

Volunteer Cortney Jansen of Sunnyvale said what she enjoys most are the conversations she has with her students.

"I teach the top level class, and I effectively teach it like a college seminar," Jansen said. "So, sometimes I'll bring an article that will trigger conversations about health care, insurance, day-to-day living, gun rights, current affairs--whatever people are interested in."

Valentyna Gorbachenko, a Sunnyvale resident originally from the Ukraine, said the classes are a way to get out of her comfort zone. She moved here with her husband after he got a job. She already speaks three languages, but English was not one of her strongest.

"At home, in our situations in life, we speak only in our native language, so this class is just really good practice," Gorbachenko said. "We will learn grammar in schools or universities, but nobody learns how to talk and use this day-to-day grammar. For me, it's better to hear how words sound. I would like to find some work, but first of all I must know English."

For Maria Perez Ortega, 25, originally from El Salvador, Vision Literacy has helped her gain the confidence to open a restaurant in Sunnyvale.

"I came to Sunnyvale 10 years ago. My first job was cleaning houses," Perez Ortega said. "But then I opened my daycare after I went to school at De Anza [College] to get my license. I saved money for four years, and now I will be opening my own restaurant.

"Vision Literacy was good for me because it helped me speak and write more. plus it was free. The only bad thing about it was I wish it was offered more days a week."

For more information about the program or upcoming classes, visit visionliteracy.org or call 408.676.7323.